Antwerp in Belgium will once again be taken over by rainbow vibes. Prides are a mix of celebration – parties – and activism and advocacy. For the 2026 edition, the organising committee focuses on fearing less and being fearless.
Tag: Gay
KANSAI | One day at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka
Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and…
66 countries criminalise gay sex
The number of countries where consensual same-sex sexual relations are illegal has risen to 66 following the adoption of a new anti-LGBTQ law in Niger in June 2026, marking a reversal after years of gradual global decriminalisation. Specialist on the subject is the blog 76 Crimes. When Colin Stewart started that project, the list contained…
GAY MONACO | Monaco Pride 2026?
I visited the Principality of Monaco past Sunday. At the start of Pride Month, which is mostly an American affair, I wondered if Monaco has a Pride. It has, but not at a scale we’re used to. The principality on the Mediterranean Sea isn’t exactly known to be a queer hotspot.
ILGA-Europe warns of growing rollback of LGBTI rights in European Union candidate countries
A new enlargement review published by the LGBTQIA+ advocacy organisation ILGA-Europe and regional network ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey warns that several countries seeking membership of the European Union are experiencing a significant deterioration in the protection of LGBTI rights.
PROGRAMME | Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2026 from Friday 19 June to Sunday 16 August
“We’ve been doing this for 13 years”, Antwerp Queer Arts Festival says. Since 2013, AQAF organises a queer, more edgy, more ‘alternative’, less polished, less gentrified (?) festival for LGBTQIA+ people in the summer. It runs alongside Antwerp Pride.
LATVIA | 1.5 days in Riga
August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It…
Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2026 unveils diverse programme, from 19 June to 16 August
queer, more edgy, more ‘alternative’, less polished, less gentrified (?) festival for LGBTQIA+ people in the summer. It runs alongside Antwerp Pride.
From the Stonewall Riots to Brussels and Antwerp Pride: how much did the New York riots really influence queer activism in Belgium and the Netherlands?
Today is Brussels Pride‘s main event: the march, the parade, the walk. Whatever you want to call it. Every Pride season, the same story returns. In June 1969, patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York fought back against a police raid. The riots that followed became the symbolic birth of modern LGBTQIA+ liberation and…
SATURDAY 8 AUGUST 2026 | Pride Express connects Utrecht – Amsterdam – Rotterdam Antwerp – Rotterdam Amsterdam – Utrecht for Antwerp Pride 2026
A week after linking Belgium, with Ghent, Brussels, and Antwerp to WorldPride in Amsterdam, the Pride Express will now return the favour and link the Netherlands, with Utrecht, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam to Antwerp for Antwerp Pride on Saturday 8 August 2026.